Jefferson, Jackson, and
Lincoln in turn found themselves in exigencies where they held it to
be their duty to decide for themselves on their high political
responsibility in matters of constitutional power and duty. Lincoln
suspended the privilege of _habeas corpus_ by his own proclamation,
and adhered to his view, although Judge Taney in the Circuit Court
for Maryland denied his power to do so. When Congress passed a
regulating act on the subject which seemed to him sufficient, he
signed the statute because he was quite willing to limit his action
by the provisions embodied in it, and not because he thought the act
necessary to confer the power.
An incident in the history of the treasonable organizations believed
to exist in Indiana emphasizes the change of mental attitude of
Judge Davis between 1863 and 1866. During the progress of the
Vallandigham case, General Burnside conceived a distrust of the
wisdom of the course pursued by Brigadier-General Carrington, who
commanded at Indianapolis, and sent Brigadier-General Hascall there
to command that district. Carrington had been the right hand of
Governor Morton in ferreting out the secrets of the Golden Circle,
and applying Order No, 38 to them, but Burnside's lack of confidence
in the cool-headed caution and judgment of his subordinate led him
to make the change.
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